If you are a local business owner, whether you currently do local internet marketing, print marketing, or both, consider this…
As a person in Western society, we have been conditioned that the more choices we have, the better. But there is a dark side to more choices which should be a reality check for consumers as well as business owners.
Is providing too many choices to your prospects and customer actually hurting your business? Psychologist Barry Schwartz suggests that choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.
The human mind can only efficiently process up to seven pieces of new information at a time, plus or minus two. In the extreme, consider the 175 varieties of salad dressing that Barry refers to. How do you choose just one without taking the time to consider all of the options? Will you feel good about the choice you made if you don’t take the time? Will you just walk away because there are just too many options?
Consider your own business. Are you marketing to your own prospects? Are you trying to be all things to all people by offering a myriad of options? Or are you offering just a manageable number of options which will enable, rather than disable, your prospect’s buying decisions?
These considerations are relevant both offline and online. But arguably are even more important online because when your online prospect becomes overwhelmed, he or she is just a click away from leaving your site.
You need to be very clear about who your real prospect is. What is the conversation in their head? Write your copy to insert yourself into that conversation. Then keep your online visitor focused on what you want them to do next. One or two choices at a time, no more. If you can streamline your visitor’s experience in this way, you will be much more successful with your local internet marketing endeavours.
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